(Reuters) - Apple Inc said on Thursday Spotify wants all the benefits of a free app without being free, as the iPhone maker responded to the audio streaming service provider's complaint with European Union antitrust regulators.

Spotify, which launched a year after the 2007 launch of the iPhone, said on Wednesday Apple unfairly limits rivals to its own Apple Music streaming service.

Apple's control of its App store deprived consumers of choice and rival providers of audio streaming services to the benefit of Apple Music, which began in 2015, Spotify added.

In response, Apple said it has "approved and distributed nearly 200 app updates on Spotify's behalf, resulting in over 300 million downloaded copies of the Spotify app."

"The only time we have requested adjustments is when Spotify has tried to sidestep the same rules that every other app follows," Apple said in a statement. https://apple.co/2TDPBPo

"Spotify is free to build apps for — and compete on — our products and platforms, and we hope they do."

(Reporting by Subrat Patnaik in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

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